Collapsible power-driven table stand

ABSTRACT

A collapsible power-driven table stand includes a supporting body of an elongated shape, a first stand having a first driving member and a plurality of first extendable rods driven by the first driving member to move axially relative to each other and a second stand having a second driving member and a plurality of second extendable rods driven by the second driving member to move axially relative to each other. The first diving member is pivotally attached to one end of the supporting body and the second diving member is also pivotally attached to another end of the supporting body in order to allow both the first and second stands to extend/collapse relative to the supporting body. Accordingly, the assembly of the collapsible power-driven table is simplified and the overall size thereof is reduced.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application is a continuing application of U.S. patent applicationSer. No. 14/276,998, filed on May 13, 2014, and entitled “COLLAPSIBLEPOWER-DRIVEN TABLE STAND”. The entire disclosures of the aboveapplication are all incorporated herein by reference.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention is related to a power-driven table stand, inparticular, to a collapsible power-driven table stand.

2. Description of Related Art

Ergonomic designs are known to be the design trend based on the conceptassociated with human bodies and shapes such that the design is able toprovide the most optimal solution according to different shape and sizesof the user; therefore, mass produced products can also be incorporatedinto various types of adjustment structures therein for its use in orderto satisfy the needs of different users. Among these products, thelifting mechanism of table is also one of the realizations for theapplication of the ergonomic design, which is able to adjust the heightof the table in order to suit to the needs of different body heights andto achieve most optimal comforts. Therefore, the table with liftingfunction with adjustments has become one of the main trends in themodern designs.

In the currently existing power-driven tables lifting mechanisms, aportion of these tables use pneumatic cylinders for the stands andutilize the control on the lifting of the pneumatic cylinders to achievethe adjustments on the position of the heights. Although these tableshave the characteristic of simplified assembly in their structures, dueto the lifting of the pneumatic cylinders at high speed in the operationas well as the requirement of the manual actions of lowering thepneumatic cylinders by the user during the lowering thereof, improperforces exerted by the user can often lead to extremely large differencesin the heights of the table, which cannot satisfy the needs of the userand often requires numerous attempts on the adjustments of lifting andlowering until a suitable height of the table can be obtained; in otherwords, the effectiveness of these tables are poor.

Another portion of power-driven tables use power-driven cylinders forthe stands. Although such solution can effectively overcome thedifficulties in the aforementioned adjustments on the positions of theheights of the tables, it has the drawbacks of a complicated structure,tedious and time-consuming assembly, heavy weight, large size and so on,that need to be overcome.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

An objective of the present invention is to provide a collapsiblepower-driven table stand capable of simplifying the assembly procedureof the user and having a compact structure for reducing the overall sizeof thereof.

To achieve the aforementioned objective, the present invention providesa collapsible power-driven table stand comprising a supporting body, afirst stand and a second stand. The supporting body is of an elongatedshape. The first stand comprises a first driving member and a pluralityof first extendable rod driven by the first driving member to moveaxially relative to each other. The first driving member is pivotallyattached to one end of the supporting body in order to allow the firststand to extend or collapse relative to the supporting body. The secondstand comprises a second driving member and a plurality of secondextendable rod driven by the second driving member to axially moverelative to each other. The second driving member is pivotally attachedto another end of the supporting body in order to allow the second standto extend or collapse relative to the supporting body.

The present invention further includes the following merits. With thecharacteristic of having each one of the stands configured to bebendable and extendable, the overall size of the structure aftercollapsing can be significantly reduced in order to save the use ofpackaging materials and to lower the transportation costs. By utilizingthe characteristic of common structural members for the assembly, theuse of the material can be reduced in addition to that the costs of thecomponent and storage management can be further reduced as well. As thedriving members and the controllers are concealed inside the receivingslots of the supporting body and the head portions of the screws arealso concealed inside the rectangular columns, the beauty of the overallouter appearance can be achieved with appealing effects.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWING

FIG. 1 is a perspective outer view of the power-driven table stand thepresent invention;

FIG. 2 is an exploded perspective view of the supporting body and thefirst stand of the present invention;

FIG. 3 is a cross sectional view of the supporting body and the firststand of the present invention;

FIG. 4 is an illustration showing the supporting body and the stands ofthe present invention during the collapsing thereof for storage;

FIG. 5 is an illustration showing the supporting body and the stands ofthe present invention after the completion of the collapsing thereof forstorage;

FIG. 6 is an illustration showing a state of use of the stands of thepresent invention;

FIG. 7 is an exploded view of parts of the components of anotherembodiment of the present invention; and

FIG. 8 is an illustration showing the assembly of another embodiment ofthe present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The following provides detailed description of embodiments of thepresent invention along with the accompanied drawings. It can, however,be understood that the accompanied drawings are provided forillustrative purposes only and shall not be treated as limitations tothe present invention.

Please refer to FIG. 1 to FIG. 4. The present invention provides acollapsible power-driven table stand mainly comprising a supporting body10, a first stand 20 and a second stand 30.

The supporting body 10 is of an elongated shape and mainly comprises alateral bracket 11 and two side wings 12. The lateral bracket 11includes two rectangular columns 111 spaced apart from each other andconnected in parallel; a receiving slot 112 is formed between the tworectangular columns 111; two end surfaces of each rectangular column 111include a rectangular insertion hole 113 formed thereon respectively. Inaddition, each side plate of the rectangular column 111 includes aninner side hole 114 and an outer side hole 115. Furthermore, a bottomplate of the rectangular column 111 includes a plurality of perforations116.

The side wing 12 is generally of a T shape and comprises a fixationplate 121 and two U-shaped members 122 secured onto a mid-section areaof the fixation plate 121. The fixation plate 121 is provided for atable top 8 to be fastened thereon. Each U-shaped member 112 is insertedinto the aforementioned insertion hole 113 correspondingly; in addition,a lateral side of the U-shaped member 122 includes a through hole 123corresponding to the aforementioned outer side hole 115, and a bottomsurface of the U-shaped member 122 includes a plurality of screw holes124 corresponding to the aforementioned perforations 116 in order toallow fastening units such as screws to fasten thereon.

The first stand 20 is generally of an L shape and comprises a firstdriving member 21 and a plurality of extendable rods 22 connected to thefirst driving member 21. The first driving member 21 mainly comprises arectangular housing 211 for accommodating components including such as amotor, a speed reduction mechanism, such as a worm shaft and worm gearset or reduction gear set, and leading screw shaft (not shown in thefigures) penetrating through the housing 211 to the external thereof.The housing 211 includes a protruding platform 212 formed at an innercorner position thereof. The center position of the protruding platform212 includes a first screw hole 213; the housing 211 is received insidethe aforementioned receiving slot 112 and is fastened by fastening units23, such as screws, penetrating through the inner side hole 114 andfurther fastened onto the first screw hole 213 such that the first stand20 is able to use it as a rotational center to perform rotations andswings for extension or collapsing relative to the supporting body 10.In addition, the housing 211 includes a second screw hole 214 at a topof the first extendable rod 22; when the first stand 20 is rotated toextend relative to the supporting body 10 and perpendicular to thelateral bracket 11, it can be fastened by fastening units 23, such asscrews, penetrating through the outer side hole 115 and further fastenedonto the second screw hole 214.

In this embodiment, the structure is constructed by three firstextendable rods 22 to form a three-staged extendable structure, whichcan also be a two-staged or four-staged extendable structure. Each firstextendable rod 22 is driven by the aforementioned motor and the leadingscrew shaft to be able to move axially relative to each other in orderto achieve the extension or retraction thereof.

Preferably, the first stand 20 further comprises a first bottom plate24. The first bottom plate 24 uses fastening units, such as screws, tobe fastened onto the bottom surface of the outer most first extendablerod 22.

The second stand 30 comprises a second driving member 31 and a pluralityof second extendable rods 32 driven by the second driving member 31 tomove axially relative to each other. The second driving member 31 ispivotally attached to the supporting body 10 in order to allow thesecond stand 30 to extend or collapse relative to the supporting body10. Since the second driving member 31 and the second extendable rods 32have structures identical to those of the first driving member 21 andthe first extendable rods 22 in addition to that the second bottom plate34 is of an identical structure as that of the first bottom plate 24,similar details thereof are omitted hereafter.

Preferably, the collapsible power-driven table stand of the presentinvention further comprises a controller 40. The controller 40 is alsoreceived inside the receiving slot 112 and is electrically connected tothe first driving member 21 and the second driving member 31. With theutilization of the controller 40, a synchronous actuation of the firstdriving member 21 and the second driving member 31 can be achieved.

Please refer to FIG. 5 and FIG. 6. With the combination of theaforementioned assembly, during the collapsing for storage of thepresent invention, the pivotal rotational area of the second stand 30 isused as a rotation center for rotating the end portions of the secondextendable rods 32 into the receiving slot 112, followed by using thepivotal rotational area of the first stand 20 as a rotation center forrotating the first extendable rods 22 therein and to use its endportions to abut against the second extendable rods 32; therefore, theaction of the collapsing for storage can be completed swiftly with ease.On the contrary, when the user wishes to use the present invention, thefirst extendable rods 22 and the second extendable rods 32 are rotatedout in sequence, and the U-shape member 122 of each side wing 12 isinserted into the insertion hole 113 of the rectangular column 111correspondingly, as shown in FIG. 2, followed by using the fasteningunits 23 to sequentially penetrate through the outer side hole 115 andthe through hole 123 in order to be further fastened onto the secondscrew hole 214. Accordingly, with such configuration, the costsassociated with the formation of the screw holes can be reduce and thehead portions of the fastening units 23 are allowed to be concealedinside the rectangular columns 111 such that the beauty of the overallouter appearance can be achieved.

Furthermore, as the controller 40 is electrically connected to the firstdriving member 21 and the second driving member 31, it is able tosimultaneously drive the first extendable rods 22 and the secondextendable rods 32 to perform synchronous actions of retraction andextension, as shown in FIG. 6.

Please refer to FIG. 7 and FIG. 8. In addition to the aforementionedembodiment of the collapsible power-driven table stand of the presentinvention, according to another embodiment of the present invention, itcan further comprises a longitudinal bracket 50 and a third stand 60;wherein the supporting body further comprises a supporting structure 14.The supporting structure 14 can include two pairs of hollow columns 141,and each hollow column 141 is soldered to the outer surfaces of tworectangular columns 111 in a direction perpendicular to the rectangularcolumns 111. One end of the longitudinal bracket 50 penetrates throughone of the pairs of the hollow columns 141. The third stand 60 comprisesa third driving member 61 and a plurality of extendable rods 62 drivenby the third driving member 61 to move axially relative to each other.The third driving member 61 is pivotally attached to one end of thelongitudinal bracket 50 away from the hollow column 141. Theaforementioned controller 40 is electrically connected to the thirddriving member 61 in order to achieve the synchronous actuation with thefirst driving member 21 and the second driving member 31.

In addition, the structure of the longitudinal bracket 50 is identicalto that of the aforementioned lateral bracket 11, and the third stand 60is also of a structure identical to that of the first stand 20 or thesecond stand 30; likewise, the third bottom plate 64 has a structuralidentical to that of the first bottom plate 24 or the second bottomplate 34. With such configuration, the characteristic of the commoncomponents among these assembly structures yields a great reduction onthe cost.

In view of the above, the collapsible power-driven table stand of thepresent invention can indeed achieve the expected objectives and resultswhile overcoming the drawbacks of the prior arts. The above descriptionson the embodiments of the present invention are provided forillustrative purposes only, which shall not be treated as limitations ofthe present invention. Any other equivalent modifications within thespirit of the present invention shall be deemed to be within the scopeof the present invention.

What is claimed is:
 1. A collapsible power-driven table stand,comprising: a supporting body having an elongated shape; wherein thesupporting body comprises a lateral bracket having a plurality ofrectangular columns spaced apart from each other and connected inparallel, and a receiving slot is formed between the rectangularcolumns; a L-shaped first stand comprising a first driving member and aplurality of first extendable rods driven by the first driving member tomove axially relative to each other; the first diving member pivotallyattached to one end of the supporting body in order to allow the firststand to extend or collapse relative to the supporting body; and asecond stand comprising a second driving member and a plurality ofsecond extendable rods driven by the second driving member to moveaxially relative to each other; the second diving member pivotallyattached to another end of the supporting body in order to allow thesecond stand to extend or collapse relative to the supporting body;wherein the pivotal rotational area of the first stand is used as arotation center for rotating the end portions of the first extendablerods into the receiving slot.
 2. The collapsible power-driven tablestand according to claim 1, further comprising a controller electricallyconnected to the first driving member and the second driving member inorder to control a synchronous actuation of the first driving member andthe second driving member.
 3. The collapsible power-driven table standaccording to claim 2, wherein the controller is concealed inside thereceiving slot.
 4. The collapsible power-driven table stand according toclaim 1, wherein the supporting body further comprises a side winghaving a fixation plate and a U-shaped member secured on the fixationplate; an end surface of the rectangular column includes an insertionhole formed therein; the U-shaped member is inserted into the insertionhole.
 5. The collapsible power-driven table stand according to claim 1,wherein the rectangular column includes an inner side hole formedtherein; the first driving member comprises a housing, and a surface ofthe housing includes a protruding platform formed thereon; theprotruding platform includes a first screw hole; the housing is receivedinside the receiving slot and a fastening unit penetrates through theinner side hole and is fastened in the first screw hole.
 6. Thecollapsible power-driven table stand according to claim 5, wherein therectangular column includes an outer side hole formed therein; theU-shaped member includes a through hole corresponding to the outer sidehole; the housing includes a second screw hole and a fastening unitpenetrates through the outer side hole and is fastened in the secondscrew hole.
 7. The collapsible power-driven table stand according toclaim 1, wherein the first stand comprises a first bottom plateconnected to one end of the first extendable rods away from the firstdriving member.